1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure is related to knives. More particularly, the present disclosure is related to knives for use with various styles of utility knife blades, and more specifically to knives having a blade carriage configured to reverse the blade from a first cutting end to the opposite cutting end without the requirement of handling the utility knife blade.
2. Description of Related Art
Utility knives are used in connection with a number of activities, including cutting of corrugated materials, box cutting, flooring cutting, wood working and others. One type of utility knife incorporates a two-piece housing having a cavity in which a blade is secured. The two housing sections are releasably secured to each other using a fastening screw, and the blade remains exposed in a fixed position during use. When the blade becomes dull, the user removes the fastening screw, separates the housing sections and manually reverses the blade to present the cutting edge at the opposite end of the blade for cutting. When the cutting edge at the second end becomes dull, the process is repeated to allow the user to insert new blade. The process of reversing and/or changing blades involves the repeated handling of sharp blades that can increase the chances of injury each time the blade is handled.
Retractable blade knives are also well known in the art. These types of knives typically have a housing separable by a fastener such as a screw. Contained inside the housing is a blade carriage that allows a blade to be loaded thereto. The blade carriage is usually accessible from the outside of the knife so that the user can expose the blade from an opening in the housing. When the blade becomes dull, the housing is typically separated so that the user can remove and reverse the blade for use. When the second cutting edge becomes dull, the housing can be separated yet again for blade replacement. As described above, reversing and/or changing of the blade requires frequent handling which can increase the chances for injury.
Some improvements have been made to eliminate the need for the separation of the housing during blade removal. This allows the user to reverse or change the blade without the requirement of separating the housing. However, there still exists the requirement for the user to handle such blades. Despite the improvements, the chance of injury during the handling of sharp blades is still present.
Therefore, there is a need for a knife that overcomes, alleviates, and/or mitigates one or more of the aforementioned and other deleterious effects of prior art knives.